Questions: Greek Yogurt Best on An Empty Stomach? Only Consequential in Large Amounts?

My understanding is that Greek yogurt is a probiotic (produced with live bacterial cultures) . They help support the good bacteria that already live in the digestive system. Eating Greek yogurt "may" improve one's ability to handle a wide variety of food, along w other benefits. I have also heard that it is best to eat Greek yogurt on an empty stomach (for example morning) to get maximum benefit from it. True? Versus eating it for dessert after dinner, say. But then I've also been told that one would have to eat a "ridiculous" amount (whatever that is) to get any benefit in the digestive system (modulate/change the gut microbiota?) Can anyone with knowledge about any of this comment on it? Thanks in advance.

Answer

Greek has nothing to do with the probiotics. It has less water which is how the higher microbe/protein content can be attributed. It is traditionally pressed in cheese cloth to remove water content. You can buy probiotics in gel caps if you believe you are deficient. I am not saying that good yogurt doesn’t help. I eat plain greek yogurt every week.

Answer

Fermented foods like yogurt can have lots of beneficial bacteria (pro-biotics for the squeamish). Before it’s packaged most food manufacturers heat (pasteurize) the yogurt to kill the bacteria and extend the shelf life. Greek yogurt has less water but is not necessarily more pro-biotic. It doesn’t matter when you eat it.

The more diverse your diet the more diverse you gut bacteria (microbiome) and that’s good.

Fruits and vegetables have more of what your microbiome eats.

Eat more fruit and vegs - improve your gut health.

A healthy gastrointestinal microbiome is dependent on dietary diversity

Answer

I would recommend this video for you, the guy they are interviewing is a leading researcher in the gut microbiome. https://youtu.be/uoVNKT76MUc Full disclosure, I just ordered one of their bundles they recommended for me in my endeavor to solve my GI issues.

Answer

This opinion is loosely based on science.

Humans have highly acidic stomach acid at 1.5ph… which is actually very high even from a predatory standpoint… that ph becomes more basic(ph raises) with a large meal… probiotics have better survivability with a large meal.

Where it might change is that it might take longer for the stomach to empty leaving the probiotic in the stomach longer.

So in my theory eat yogurt with a meal but consider these topics

Answer

Probiotics need their own food in the gut to flourish. If consumed alone the bacteria will not survive past the stomach given the high acidity and lack of fiber for the probiotics to feed from. It’s best to mix yogurt or any other probiotic rich food with fruit and grains which offer a complex fiber make up well enough to gain the benefits from the healthy bacteria. Fiber gives the probiotics a place to latch on and thrive past the stomach into the small and large intestine before you poop it out.